[Physicochemical characteristics of a vaccinal strain of the Leningrad-3 mumps virus (L-3)]. / Fiziko-khimicheskaia kharakteristika vaktsinnogo shtamma virusa parotita Leningrada-3 (L-3).

Purified virions of the vaccine strain Leningrad-3 of mumps virus propagated in Japanese quail embryo cell cultures had a buoyant density 1.18-1.19 g/ml in sucrose gradient, contained 50 S RNA and showed variable sizes in electron microscopy as manifested by heterogeneity of the virus zone in sedimentation analysis. Purified L-3 virus contained 5 major polypeptides with molecular weights of 74,000, 68,000, 58,000, 45,000, and 39,000 daltons. Each polypeptide had an individual oligopeptide composition.

[Study of viral contamination of Japanese quail and cell cultures from their embryos]. / Izuchenie virusnoi kontaminatsii iaponskikh perepelov i kul'tury kletok iz ikh émbrionov.

Agents identified as adenovirus CELO were isolated from organ suspensions of 1500 Japanese quails (JQ) in 4 experiments. No contaminating viruses were found in examinations of cell cultures prepared from the kidneys of 80 JQ. Negative results were obtained in examinations of 163 antigens from JQ organs in the COFAL test. Agents identified as mycoplasma were isolated in 16 cases from 736 specimens of the virus-containing fluid used for manufacture of measles virus. According to the results of the CFT, 59 antigens prepared from Japanese quail embryo cell cultures contained no oncornavirus antigens and were negative in the COFAL test. Among 1848 JQ sera examined for the presence of antibody to leukemia-sarcoma complex viruses only 2 sera were found in 1976 to contain antibody to Rous sarcoma virus. No antibody to Marek disease virus in 414 serum samples or to Newcastle disease virus in 554 sera were detected. Among 500 sera tested 30.8% contained antibody to adenovirus CELO.

["Pharaoh" line culture of Japanese quail cells as a leukosis-free system for virus reproduction]. / Kul'tura kletok iaponskikh perepelov linii faraon kak bezleikoznaia sistema dlia reproduktsii virusov.

Contamination of Japanese quail, strain Pharaoh, cell culture with oncogenous and infectious avian viruses was studied. The susceptibility of the embryonal cell cultures of the Japanese quail, strain Pharaoh, to measles, parotitis and fixed rabies viruses was also determined. It was found that the sera of pubertal quails had no antibody to Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), strains Brian, RSV (RAV-1), Schmidt-Ruppin, Carr-Zilber, as well as to Marek's disease and Newcastle disease viruses. No reverse transcriptase activity was detected in the embryonal alantoic fluid of this avian species. The quails were less susceptible, as compared to the chicken, to Schmidt-Ruppin and Carr-Zilber strains of RSV. Measles, parotitis and fixed rabies viruses reproduced actively in the Japanese quail, Pharaoh strain, embryonal cell cultures. It is suggested that the embryonal cell cultures of this avian species can be used as a leukemia-free substrate for experimental studies and manufacturing of viral vaccines.

[Isolation and study of several properties of mycoplasma from Japanese quail embryos]. / Vydelenie i izuchenie nekotorykh svoistv mikoplazmy iz embrionov iaponskogo perepela.

An agent isolated from Japanese quail embryos was found to be pathogenic for chick embryo and quail embryo fibroblast cultures, to cause hemadsorption and hemagglutination of guinea pig erythrocytes. Reproduction of the agent was inhibited by tetracycline and 5-bromodeoxyuridine. The agent incorporated both 3H-thymidine and 3H-uridine and had a buoyant density in sucrose gradient of 1.22 g/ml. Mature mycoplasma forms were determined electron microscopically in gradient fractions in cell sections.